Aston Villa 1-2 Bournemouth

Aston Villa fell to a second consecutive defeat after a lacklustre start at Villa Park saw Bournemouth come out 2-1 victors.

Despite home debutant Douglas Luiz scoring a stunner to halve the deficit, Villa’s lack of ideas in the final third meant a comeback wasn’t to be.

Dean Smith opted to make one change from a loss at Tottenham, with Conor Hourihane making way for Luiz. Elsewhere, Matt Targett remained on the bench and Fred Guilbert out of the side altogether.

Mistakes will not go unpunished

After being greeted with a fitting welcome back to Villa Park, the players on it couldn’t respond. Tom Heaton clumsily committed a foul inside the first minutes of proceedings, and Josh King converted from the spot.

Harry Wilson then doubled the Cherries lead ten minutes later. After Douglas Luiz played it too causal in the middle of the park, Wilson’s strike deflected off Tyrone Mings before hitting the post and bouncing beyond Heaton in goal.

Architects of their own downfall, Villa must learn that mistakes will not go unpunished in the Premier League.

However, Heaton kept Villa in the tie moments before half time as he got down quickly to deny Wilson. The Welshman stabbed the ball towards goal from a tight angle, but Heaton managed to thwart his effort.

At the other end, Trezeguet could’ve got his first and more importantly a goal on the stroke of half time. After Wesley made light work of Steve Cook on the wing, he cut the ball back for Trezeguet, but the Egyptians effort was blocked by Ake.

Notably, Phillip Billing stayed on the pitch after making two fouls after receiving a yellow card and was subsequently pulled off by Eddie Howe for the second half.

Stronger second half

In a game villa that dominated the ball at 65%, a cutting edge was missing, and so Neil Taylor tried his luck. The full-back should have done better when he received the ball in good space at the far post, but Bournemouth blocked once more.

Jack Grealish then had then chance to score his first of the season, but his header from years out failed to hit the target.

Though Villa’s talisman did make one minute later. His pass to Douglas Luiz set the Brazilian up to score an early goal of the season contender. Striking the ball from 20 yards, the ball cracked the crossbar before hitting the back of the net.

Villa poised with no punch from then on. Björn Engels’ late header was at close as the hosts got to an equaliser.

Everton will travel to Villa Park on Friday night as Dean Smith aims to get Villa’s first points on the board.